Boulder artists seek official district recognition

Artists: Formal designation for north Boulder studios would raise profile

Carol Garnand of Carol Silks, paints a silk scarf at her North Boulder shop on Friday.
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
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More affordable housing and studio space has attracted artists to north Boulder for years. Now, a group of them want the city to help create a formal North Boulder Art District.

"All these other cities have art districts and art complexes, and Boulder doesn't have anything," said Sally Eckert, a painter who lives in Gold Hill but has her studio on Lee Hill Drive in north Boulder. "Why not? There are hundreds and maybe thousands of artists here."

Formal recognition would raise the profile of Boulder's arts community and allow artists to request state grant money for larger projects, artists say.

They envision an art district on North Broadway similar to Denver's Art District on Santa Fe Drive, with galleries, studios and a thriving night life.

The North Boulder Art District already holds open studio nights on the first Friday of every month from April to December, as well as a February group event at the First Congregational Church.

Artists have built sculptural bookcases for north Boulder's "little libraries," and they're in talks with Boulder Housing Partners to do public art for 1175 Lee Hill Drive, a Housing First project that will provide apartments for 31 chronically homeless people.

They've asked the Boulder Arts Commission and the Boulder City Council to support their efforts and proclaim an art district stretching along Broadway from the Congregational church at Pine Street up to U.S. 36.

Annette Coleman, a multimedia artist who does collages based on dreams, said Boulder artists need more exposure.

First Friday events generate repeat visitors, which generate sales. An official art district would raise the profile of First Friday events and promote the opening of more galleries in the area.

Currently, there are 30 Boulder artists who regularly participate in First Friday events.

Carol Garnand, a fiber artist who mostly works in silk, said many Boulder artists go to Denver to have their work shown.

The Dairy Center for the Arts has a small gallery but focuses more on performing arts. Boulder's commercial galleries focus on more traditional work, she said.

There's no reason Boulder couldn't support a more vibrant local art community, she said.

"We have the demographics to support the next Santa Fe," Garnand said, referring to the Denver art district.

If the city were to establish a formal art district, north Boulder artists could apply for up to $25,000 in grant money from Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade that seeks to promote the "creative economy."

The North Boulder Art District already has received smaller grants from the Boulder Arts Commission and the Boulder County Arts Alliance to offer low-cost classes to seniors and other groups, as well as to offer scholarships to those who cannot afford even the more reduced cost.

Coleman said north Boulder artists would like to work on larger projects and engage more with the broader community. Having access to more grant money would help make that possible.

City Manager Jane Brautigam told the City Council this week that city officials are open to discussing the idea. The city's Arts Commission is in the process of a larger community assessment, and she said she expects the creation of an official North Boulder Art District will be part of that discussion.